test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

Why do you or don't you use the Foundry.

solomacesolomace Member Posts: 0 Arc User
So, content, a thing that many say the game lacks, but others say we have content every day due to the foundry.

I have never liked the foundry and will never subscribe to it, simply because it was always suppose to be an extra for fans. It was never going to be a substitute for official content and this was said many times by the devs and the eps. Now ofc we know that they are pushing it for you the fans to basically make the story element for STO, whilst they push out more lock boxes or money sinks, but very little substance stuff.

That said, why do you play the foundry or why won't you.
Straight from the mouth of one of the leaders of the CDF - "I tell you what, Haven't spent any money either - I'm a lousy freeloader" - Jonsills 17/12/2014
Post edited by solomace on
«13456

Comments

  • edited October 2012
    This content has been removed.
  • khayuungkhayuung Member Posts: 1,876 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I think the Foundry is great. Brings back the old days where there was no Trek except the fanfiction and comics being drawn. Except now with modern technology, the Foundry allows fellow players to bring it up to date. Actually living that story!

    And some of the work there is absolutely amazing. If they were part of the TV shows, they'd be winning awards.

    Can't get enough of the Foundry. Not enough time to play it all, but its definitely worth it.

    I consider content from the Foundry still content as such. What I hope then that the devs make use of their time fixing bugs... which hasn't happened, so that's my main beef with them.


    "Last Engage! Magical Girl Origami-san" is in print! Now with three times more rainbows.

    Support the "Armored Unicorn" vehicle initiative today!

    Thanks for Harajuku. Now let's get a real "Magical Girl" costume!
  • supergaminggeeksupergaminggeek Member Posts: 616 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I use the Foundry a lot, especially now that my missions will be about the Assignment Chains.
    Current Project: Facility 4028 Fugitives.
  • janetza#4790 janetza Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    Foundry is awesome. There are lots of incredible missions, with puzzles, story, etc. Many of foundry missions I played are superior to FE.
    __________________
    [Combat (Self)] You lose 6549 (7572) Cold from the torment of the underworld.

    In-game handle @Janetza
  • age03age03 Member Posts: 1,664 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I play Foundary missions when I feel like it right now I ma working on my ships and fleet Starbase.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Age StarTrek-Gamers Administrator
    USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
    Star Trek Gamers
  • captainrevo1captainrevo1 Member Posts: 3,948 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    Because its awesome.

    I really enjoy making missions and the better missions i have played by others are usually amazing and better than the dev stories. no disrespect to them but there is such a wide variety of authors to pick from and no restrictions by CBS on the story that the sky is the limit in terms of variety and imagination.
  • tobar26thtobar26th Member Posts: 799 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I'll put my hands up, I don't....much. I try and play the spotlight missions through but often I find that I can get better rewards for less time.

    That said when i want to play stories I play foundry :D
  • zerobangzerobang Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    no i do not play foundry missions.

    Cryptic failed in delivering a return (dilithium / item-token-store / reputation system...) of investment (TIME) for foundry players.

    no rewards for it that you can't get through the clickies

    The "Spotlights" on the Website i tend to just ignore.



    the clicky missions have to be well known by cryptic by now,
    they are monitoring their dilithium economy, i assume removing that dilithium income from the whole playerbase would crash the $ to Zen to Dilithium exchange market (and we can't have that), so they dont...
    now they even added 50 Fleetmarks on top of it. (FLEET marks, for a System that is usually played by single players... alone? but not to the FLEET actions... huh?)
    looks to me like they is OK with how it is used.

    Then why not turn the clickies into an AFK XP thing (or give the Dilithium+FM Tribbles a decent amount of payout instead?) and give the Foundry something that actually would make me PLAY Foundry?
    I'm not opposed to playing these missions, i just dont think it is worth my time without a fitting in-game reward.


    maybe let me put it like this:

    i am ADDICTED to farming dilithium, and the foundry has nothing to satisfy that addiction.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • zarathos1978zarathos1978 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    Don't play it, don't make missions. I tried to do some foundry stories about the actual war between Feds and Klings and use my experience from doing X-Wing and TIE-fighter missions (old, I'am) - but foundry access was broken then. It was supposed to be repaired "soon", but was not so I decided to ignore foundry completely.

    Ok, I do the ESD quickies :)
  • gypsybladegypsyblade Member Posts: 730 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    My time is limited and when I play I'd prefer to get rewards, I believe this is how most feel. I'm sure the foundry would be a lot more popular if the rewards were done better. As it stands the majority use it for to grab a quick dil from the daily.
  • aelfwin1aelfwin1 Member Posts: 2,896 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    Why don't you use the Foundry ?


    - Because I don't know where to go to find good missions .
    I recall bugging Kirkfat to create SPECIFIC lists with recommended missions , but he just made a generic one that got lost after the new forums got installed .
    I used to have the Nagus's list bookmarked too , but I lost that one too after the new forums got here .

    I need a SPECIFIC list of recommendations (broken down to Combat , Story , Combat w/Story) -- simply because I'm often in a different mood for different stuff .
    Sometimes I want a moving story .
    Sometimes I just want to shoot stuff in a setup that I have not visited 18-2000 times before .


    - Because sometimes "recommended authors" don't do it for me .
    I recall doing a mission called "The Worst of Both Worlds" -- and while the concept of playing in a Borg dominated Universe seemed good enough , this mission might have been the authors first one and ... boy was it uninteresting (no offense) .
    Yet (unfortunetly) it was touted as "you should play this mission before you play my other mission in this universe" -- or something like that -- and it was unfortunate because the followup mission was pretty decent . Interesting story , good execution .

    But this reflected the problem of un-tried and un-polished authors thinking that they have a great idea and doing this idea/mission as their first mission .
    And THAT often times has mixed results (and not for the better) .


    - No ability to "subscribe" to authors I do like , not getting informed when they put out a new mission .


    - No ability to choose Combat/Story/Combat+Story from the Foundry missions menu .


    - No consistent effort to promote missions by creating lists from the community (looking at you Multi-UGC podcast ppl) .
    It's not enough to review a mission and have it's name (and perhaps synopsis) disappear into obscurity a month later .

    If you want to promote missions -- then PROMOTE MISSIONS -- long term like .
    Create lists w/categories , mailing lists , other stuff that I can't think of at the moment ('cause me not smart and me can't make missions -- but me can complain , yeeessss ! :D)

    - And lastly , as my Fleetie Zerobang has mentioned -- I too feel the "need" (that has been created superficially by Cryptic) -- to "work" on my Starbases , and "work" on my Doffs (for my Starbases) and "work" on my Dill grind and my Mark grind , and my toon leveling .
    All of the above leaves little to no time to "explore strange new worlds and new civilizations" in the Foundry .
    That is if I had a list to go by ... and perhaps some decent Dill / FM award at the end ... . :)
  • bazagbazag Member Posts: 375 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    To be honest if it wasn't for the foundry I doubt I would still have any interest in STO.

    I've created 11 missions, 8 fed, 3 Klingon of various types from lots of combat to none. All with a strong story basis and I've got a lot more in this brain of mine.

    As to why I play other people's foundry missions. I like seeing what other people have done with the foundry. What stories and situations they want to put my character in and making sure my character overcomes those things that they face.

    I have a respect for other foundry authors who try. Not every mission is amazing or even "good" but everyone who puts the effort in to try their best at the various elements that make up a good mission can improve and has the opportunity to do so.
  • indysharkindyshark Member Posts: 1,556 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I really enjoy the foundry, but the I usually spend my time playing to get fleet marks, dilithium, or items for the exchange. I wish they would increase the bonus for playing 3 missions to 250 Fleet marks and 2,000 dilithium.
  • nagoraknagorak Member Posts: 882 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    The Foundry is the only reason I still play STO as well. I don't know how much of the player base cares about it, but for me it's the #1 thing that keeps me occupied. I really enjoy creating my own missions in the Star Trek universe and it gives me the chance to do so. :cool:
  • enkemenenkemen Member Posts: 113 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    As to playing Foundry missions, I do it occasionally, when I'm in the mood for some story and fun. As to using it? It's tremendously limited and user unfriendly. Yes, good missions can be created with it -- amazing ones, even -- but quite frankly, I used better game/level editors back in the nineties.
  • kyeto13kyeto13 Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I play foundry missions as well as write some. Although i am really slow at coming out with content, I'm at about 1 mission every six months. (however, that is still faster than what Cryptic can do. BURN!!! )

    I play them on occasion when I am bored and dont feel like puging anything. This usually happens about twice a month or so...

    And yes, I do the console clickers for the dilithium -___-
    Why I don't play missions too often is because of the time sink vs. reward. I mean, I like being entertained and all, but I need Dilithium, EC and gear in this game.


    I like what aelfwin1 was suggesting about a favorite author subscription. Make it so that you can create your own spotlight of the week catered just to you.

    Also, the ability to break down the foundry into different subclasses, Story, shooting, Mystery, exploration, Etc. Add some mission tags. Either written by the author or written by the audience.
    Live on Earth. Work in Space. Play with Dragons. Join the best add on to STO, the Neverwinter holodeck program! Only 14 GPL a month.
  • hrisvalarhrisvalar Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I play Foundry missions very occasionally, usually the ones that have been highlighted, when I've run out of other things to do. Unfortunately that does not happen very often. Between the D-store, Z-store, Shipyards, Starbases and R&D, Cryptic's turned STO into a bottom line game. You need currency to keep moving. And you need to keep moving to get currency. Foundry missions may come with a wrapper, sure, but some Foundry missions outright advertise themselves as taking two or three hours to complete, and being mostly text. If you have to do three of those...

    As for using the Foundry... Last time I checked, it wasn't very intuitive. I couldn't figure out even how to get a simple "Go to Planet X to start the Mission" thing to work. (Though I seem to remember having known once upon a time, at an earlier attempt.) There is very little documentation for it, and Cryptic tends to point people to outside sources, like Starbase UGC, which I'm sure is a fine site BUT everything there comes in the form of youtube videos. And the problem with video is that you can't just print them out and flip to the subject you need as you need it. You don't even know in which video it is. So you have to do homework. You have to sit down and watch them all and just hope you'll still remember what was said in the first one when the thirtieth one ends eight hours later.

    I've been meaning to take another look, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Too busy grinding dilithium. :mad:
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Reave
  • thetruthurtsthetruthurts Member Posts: 22 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    zerobang wrote: »
    no i do not play foundry missions.

    Cryptic failed in delivering a return (dilithium / item-token-store / reputation system...) of investment (TIME) for foundry players.

    no rewards for it that you can't get through the clickies

    The "Spotlights" on the Website i tend to just ignore.

    This proves what I've been saying for some time now. Of course there are a few stubborn people like the OP who will never play the foundry for "ideological" reasons. But for the majority of people it simply boils down to the rewards. Until the foundry offers comparable rewards to official missions it lacks comparable incentive.
  • solomacesolomace Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    This proves what I've been saying for some time now. Of course there are a few stubborn people like the OP who will never play the foundry for "ideological" reasons. But for the majority of people it simply boils down to the rewards. Until the foundry offers comparable rewards to official missions it lacks comparable incentive.

    Stubborn? Pot calling the kettle black eh Nagus. :) What's this now, your third or fourth guise ;)
    Straight from the mouth of one of the leaders of the CDF - "I tell you what, Haven't spent any money either - I'm a lousy freeloader" - Jonsills 17/12/2014
  • kirksplatkirksplat Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    aelfwin1 wrote: »
    I recall bugging Kirkfat to create SPECIFIC lists with recommended missions , but he just made a generic one that got lost after the new forums got installed .

    There is a 2.0 list that is stickied in the Foundry mission forum. Anything spotlighted, etc., gets added to the list.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • hanoverhanover Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I made a few missions, but it's been awhile and it's a pain in the tuchas remembering how to do everything. That time is better spent grinding fleet missions so I can buy a shiny new Defiant.

    *shrug*
    Does Arc install a root kit? Ask a Dev today!
  • lordmalak1lordmalak1 Member Posts: 4,681 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    ^^ THIS, as well as (see below)

    I bought a sub so I could use the foundry to make missions I expected to see in this game, only to discover I can't thoroughly test without publishing the mission, the incomplete toolkit, game crashes when exiting the weak testing facility the foundry provides, and the apparent inability to create cross-faction content.

    Am still new at mission creation but it doesn't have the same urgency it once did.
    KBF Lord MalaK
    Awoken Dead
    giphy.gif

    Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
  • kirksplatkirksplat Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    Well, ok, some things in this thread are obvious to the devs and supposedly fixes are coming:

    The ability to favorite an author.
    Better rewards for spotlights, etc.

    NW's foundry also has a different rewards system, base on quality of the reward due to length of the mission. I hope that general mechanic is coming to sto. Goodbye console clickers.

    As far as the learning curve, yes it's a little severe. But, it's not that terrible if you seek help and resources. SBUGC has a chat where you can get instant real-time answers to "How do I?" You don't have to watch all the videos if you seek out help.

    It will be interesting to see how rewards change things. Even I look at the wrapper and think: "My god, 3 missions are going to take me 5 hours."

    As to why I do or don't use the foundry, I'll write a more detailed response.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • thetruthurtsthetruthurts Member Posts: 22 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    kirksplat wrote: »
    Well, ok, some things in this thread are obvious to the devs and supposedly fixes are coming:

    Talk is cheap unfortunately. If/when those things happen, I'll give credit where credit is due. Until then, people need to keep harping on those same issues.
  • hyplhypl Member Posts: 3,719 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    Several reasons I don't use it, but the main reason is:

    No real-time 3D map editor.

    I just can't work on a map using a flat bird's eye view, and having to constantly load the map to see whether or not the objects I placed are placed correctly.
  • hippiejonhippiejon Member Posts: 1,581 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    hypl wrote: »
    Several reasons I don't use it, but the main reason is:

    No real-time 3D map editor.

    I just can't work on a map using a flat bird's eye view, and having to constantly load the map to see whether or not the objects I placed are placed correctly.

    I had just started trying to tell stories in the foundry. THIS ^^^^ !!! A hundred times this.
    Add to the fact that the editor is not very intuitive, and my inspiration to create in the Foundry has dwindled to just about zero.

    I admire those who create amazing missions.
    I will continue to play them, because why I "use" the foundry is that I have gotten most of the gear I want. I am not a grind until I get the absolute best kind of guy, never have been.

    Good story is always #1 priority.

    Foundry gives good story.

    Often.

    Nuff Said
  • kirksplatkirksplat Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    enkemen wrote: »
    but quite frankly, I used better game/level editors back in the nineties.

    It's going to be really, really interesting to see how old NW mappers respond to the Foundry. Is it more user friendly than the old NW tools? Perhaps, although it's not nearly as user-friendly as Cryptic thinks.

    NW's foundry is way, way cooler than STO's. But, still, the reaction of NW modders and mappers will be interesting.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • cormorancormoran Member Posts: 440 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    I'm just not interested in fanfics that don't push the main STO plot forward. *shrug*

    I could see it getting a lot more use in neverwinter since it's built more around it, though.
  • kirksplatkirksplat Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    cormoran wrote: »
    I'm just not interested in fanfics that don't push the main STO plot forward. *shrug*

    Er, if you haven't noticed, Cryptic has no intention of resolving cliff-hangers, story-lines, or even depicting some of the events in the path to 2409. They've relegated story to SFA exams. If there is a new FE, it's going to be yet another new enemy, yet another cliff-hanger story arc, and not much in terms of advancing the main plot beyond making things even more convoluted and unresolved.

    By contrast, there are some great Foundry missions that do resolve these arcs, or simply advance the story of STO. If you're interested in the holographic rights stuff in the path to 2409, please check out "Vulcan Love Slave #9." Or, if you want a continuation of the Defera FE, see mygod_itsfullofstar's "Checks and Balances."

    I was playing a Foundry mission last week, where the author explained why we are at war with the Klingons. I was a VA, and I suddenly thought, "Oh, so that's what is going on."

    At this point, I'm not even sure this thing really exists: "the main STO plot." But there are some good Foundry missions that relate to its unresolved aspects, which will never be resolved except with UGC.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • lordmalak1lordmalak1 Member Posts: 4,681 Arc User
    edited October 2012
    kirksplat wrote: »
    It's going to be really, really interesting to see how old NW mappers respond to the Foundry. Is it more user friendly than the old NW tools? Perhaps, although it's not nearly as user-friendly as Cryptic thinks.

    NW's foundry is way, way cooler than STO's. But, still, the reaction of NW modders and mappers will be interesting.

    I think the interface is 'dumbed down' for the expected audience as I KNOW certain functions exist but cryptic didn't have the time to make a button for it, nor the desire to create a document listing scripts or other function syntax.

    Think about waypoints- freighter raid missions are real, but the function to create waypoints for freighters in the foundry isn't there.
    KBF Lord MalaK
    Awoken Dead
    giphy.gif

    Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
Sign In or Register to comment.